Gordic rallies Buducnost past Barcelona

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica snatched its third straight home win with a come-from-behind victory over FC Barcelona Lassa 67-64 at a packed Moraca on Thursday in the Montenegrin capital. Nemanja Gordic scored 8 straight points in a 10-0 fourth-quarter run that put the hosts ahead for good. Buducnost added Barcelona's scalp to those of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz CSKA Moscow as it improved to 3-8. Earl Clark and Gordic scored 12 points apiece and Danilo Nikolic had 11 for the winner. Adam Hanga led Barcelona with 12 points, Ante Tomic scored 11 and Chris Singleton tallied 8 points and 10 rebounds. The defeat saw Barcelona's record slip to 6-5.

The hosts ran into early trouble when – with the score knotted 8-8 – starting point guard Gordic was whistled for his third foul. Stiff rims saw a lot of shots bounce out with the two teams combining to shoot 1 for 15 from downtown through the first 10 minutes, which ended with Barcelona up 14-15 after a Thomas Heurtel runner on the buzzer. Danilo Nikolic seemed to have broken the spell when he nailed a three from the corner to open the second quarter. Danilo Nikolic heated up for 5 quick points midway through the quarter to give Buducnost a 24-21 edge. Singleton's close-range basket lifted Barcelona to a 31-33 halftime advantage. Free throws by Clark sent the teams to the benches after three quarters with the scoreboard reading 46-46. The visitors edged in front 53-56 on a Victor Claver free throw midway through the fourth quarter when Buducnost called a timeout to regroup. Gordic took charge with 8 straight points to give Buducnost a 62-59 lead with three minutes to go. Free throws by Clark with 36 seconds remaining made it a two-possession game, but Singleton bettered him with 3 foul shots to make it 65-64 with 17 seconds left. After Edwin Jackson gave the hosts a 2-point lead from the line, Hanga missed a three to tie it at the buzzer.

Three-point blues

Buducnost came into the game as one of the league's premier three-point shooting teams, but struggled from long range in this game. The home team missed its first 7 three-point attempts and finished 7 for 24 (29.2%) from behind the arc. However, Barcelona had even more trouble with the rims at Moraca; the visitors were 6 of 26 (23.1%) with its top gunners Kyle Kuric (2 for 7) and Kevin Pangos (1 for 6) unable to get it going.

Buducnost thrives inside

Coming into the game Buducnost knew that to handle Barcelona it would need strong play inside to improve on its league-worst 44.1% on two-pointers and to match up with the visitors on the glass. In the end, Barcelona was limited to 9 offensive and 34 overall rebounds, which are a little below its season averages of 11.3 and 35.9, respectively. More importantly, Buducnost made 58.6% (17 of 29) of its two-point shots, including 4 of 6 in the fourth quarter, which made up for its subpar three-point shooting.

Game-changing run

When Coach Aleksandar Dzikic called timeout with the score 53-56 midway through the fourth quarter, little could he have expected Nemanja Gordic, who has spent the past six minutes of game time – and closer to double that in real time – on the bench to take the game by the horns. However, after a Kevin Pangos triple made it 54-59, Gordic hit a deep three-pointer, blew by his defender for a game-tying layup and then connected on a go-ahead three before Edwin Jackson capped the 10-0 run with 1:13 remaining.

Next games

Barcelona is on the road again next Thursday with a visit to archrival Real Madrid in the Spanish Clasico. Buducnost visits Herbalife Gran Canaria on Friday.

Head Coaches

DZIKIC, ALEKSANDAR

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica

"We were just lucky. They were the better team. We just jumped them a little bit. Every game is tough in the EuroLeague. Obviously I should be satisfied. We beat Barcelona. But I am a little bit tired, not fully aware of what we did. Congratulations to our players and thanks to our fans. They backed the team again, which is good."

PESIC, SVETISLAV

FC Barcelona Lassa

"Congratulation on the victory. Everything happened like we knew before the game, it was a tough game. A close game from the beginning until the end. Buducnost – the players, coach, fans in the gym – everything was perfect. They deserve this victory. Okay, we can play better. We gave our maximum in the moment, especially on defense. We fought until the end. We didn't have a little bit of luck on our three-point shots and in a close game you need to make some outside shots. We didn't tonight, but I hope that the team and players will improve and they will help with our better defense in the next games."

Players

CLARKE, COTY

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica

"It was excellent. Hard fought. A tough game. Both sides played hard. We just dug deep and we got this win."

CLARK, EARL

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica

"We just came out and tried to get some defensive stops. We played our basketball tonight. Everybody contributes, everybody came up with some big plays and when you do that you get a win. We just want to play ur basketball and come out and fight. We want to get as many wins as we can and this is a big one for us."

HANGA, ADAM

FC Barcelona Lassa

"It's a very tough loss, because these kinds of games are important, I think, to qualify later. We lacked good shooting accuracy the whole game. We didn't hit too many shots from the outside. They got in a rhythm in the second half with their fans behind them and understood the game better than we did. So it's tough, and we can't do anything more now than concentrate on the next game and get this one back in the upcoming games."